


Red, Red Blood

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, The Void, Will has Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 14:06:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12889512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He swept a finger under his nose to see what had shocked Mike. Red, Red Blood.





	1. The Void

He had been shivering since waking up that morning, instinctively the had wrapped up warm and thought nothing of it; not until he had arrived at school and seemed to still be shivering. He thought it might have been because of the cold weather, but became very aware that however warm the room was, he was still chilled and shaking slightly. The feeling was disconcerting, and he was anxious because the feeling of cold had only negative implications; though he considered that this was all in his head, some form of an episode without seeing the Upside Down. He believed this until Mike grabbed his hand to snap him out of a trance and exclaimed that he was frozen to the touch.

Then he was shaking for more than one reason, he didn’t understand, nothing had happened, no nightmare, no episode. It occurred to him that perhaps they hadn’t completely rid him of the monster, maybe it had been spying on him. His breaths became strangled and everything was fading out of existence, Mike’s worried voice was nothing, but a whisper as white noise overtook.

He was no longer in the AV room, rather, he was stood in a void of nothingness. Wetness seeped through his shoes, he wanted to run from the danger but there was nothing to run from; he ended up huddled in a tight ball, shaking and willing the real world to come back. Suddenly voices were so loud and in his face, the room was back. Something trickled down from his nose, Mike gasped as he put a hand up to see what had shocked his best-friend. Red, red blood.

William Byers’ life was about to turn upside-down once again.

 

Will stared at his finger for a long time, the blood began to dry where it lay on his face, he didn’t much care, though, he was much too entranced by what had happened and what it meant.

Just as confused was Mike, who stared in horror at Will, he didn’t know what to do; and by the looks of it, neither did Will. It was clear to Mike that this had never happened before.

He saw as Will’s eyes became bloodshot and began to spill tears, Mike quickly wrapped himself around the cold body of the world’s most troubled boy. Will shook violently as he cried, the action was very distressing to witness, Mike was glad that he was the only person in the room. After what felt like hours of sobbing, Will retired to heavy breathing, still shivering. His face was flushed, and his throat was sore from the vocal crying

The room was comfortingly silent, faint shouts of the school were distant and irrelevant, yet stood as reminders that Will was in the real world and was very much alive.

It was easy for Will to forget such a thing, between the constant comments of ‘zombie-boy’ and his own constant flashbacks, reality was something of a background image, but the very human things such as emotions and the flutter in his stomach whenever Mike looks at him with those warm, brown eyes, those are the very things that keeps him sane.

Will held many scars from his two brushes with death, a brand-like burn had scarred over on his side, scars around his wrists and ankles from where he’d struggled against ropes tying him to a bed or a chair, finally there was the one he tried so desperately to ignore, the vertical slit from his elbow to half way up his wrist, barely healed. He wore long sleeves now.

Snapping back to the present, Mike had asked him something, or seemed to have by the expecting stare he was receiving.

“S-sorry, did you say something?” Will asked, hoping he wouldn’t seem rude.

“I just asked how you were feeling.” Mike explained, rubbing Will’s arm where his own arm was around his shoulders.

“Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine.” Will said, not telling the whole truth.

“Will…” Mike gave him a disapproving look, “You don’t have to go through this alone, you can talk to me.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just not used to this, It’s easiest to just say everything is okay and be done with it.” Will sighed, “I’m scared if I’m being honest, I don’t understand, I was here one second and then I was in this other place.”

“The Upside Down?” Mike asked, dread bubbling in his chest.

“No, not the Upside Down, it was like this endless blackness, the floor was water, I was alone.” He remembered how isolated the place felt, like when he was there he’d never be able to get back to Hawkins.

“Oh, like a void?” Mike couldn’t remember why the description sounded familiar, perhaps like everything else they’d been through, there was an analogy to Dungeons and Dragons.

“Yeah, like a void.” Will agreed, trust Mike to give it a cool name already.

Mike went quiet for a few moments before jumping to his feet and grabbing his backpack, pulling Will from the floor and thrusting his bag to him.

“We need to go to El right now!” Before Will could process what was happening, he was already been dragged through the now empty corridors of the Middle School and out of the back-doors.

After everything that had happened between ’83 and ’84, Joyce was still very against Will using his bike, so he ended on the double seat of Mike’s; exactly how Eleven would ride, as he’d been told many times.

The air was cold, at first Will didn’t feel it because of his own low body temperature being too much of a distraction, but as he had warmed up slightly, the biting chill was now obvious. He clung around Mike’s middle, trying to reap as much warmth from his body. The fabric of his jumper was soft, and Will buried his face into it.

Mike rode as quickly as he could, thankfully the roads were quiet as it was the middle of the day and everyone was at home having lunch, so no traffic got in his way. Soon he was reaching Mirkwood, they got off the bike and walked briskly through the forest. Upon approaching the cabin, they stepped over the tripwire and rushed to the front door.

Will knew the secret knock.

Four bolts slid, and the door was unlocked, Eleven stood facing the boys, confused, but happy to see them. The cabin often became lonely.

“Mike, Will?” She said, inviting them in, “What are you doing here? School doesn’t end until three fifteen.”

She didn’t wait for them to answer before walking over to the settee and talking a seat, encouraging them to do the same by patting the spot beside her. The boys shared a glanced and followed suit.

“El, Will had a nose bleed and went to a void-like place.” Mike explained, he was panting lightly from exhaustion, the ride over and the quick walking hadn’t been kind to his unfit demeanour.

Will sat silently, looking guilty into his lap, he was making Mike miss school and interrupting Eleven’s day.

“Oh.” Was all Eleven said before rushing off into her bedroom and appearing a few seconds later with a bit of black ribbon and a stereo.

“What’s that?” Mike queried, eying the objects suspiciously.

“Will can do what I can do, I want to see if he can try and do it on purpose.” Eleven sat next to Will and took his hands into her own, speaking much more softly, she asked, “Is that okay?”

Will nodded, and allowed Eleven to wrap the black ribbon around his head, covering his eyes. He was comforted by a hand resting on his leg and he shook, he obviously couldn’t see, but he knew it belonged to Mike.

“Okay, I am going to turn the radio on to static, I want you to focus on the static and try and find your mother, I will be in the void with you when you get there, I promise.”

“Alright.” Will replied.

Suddenly the room was filled with buzzing, Will felt his head pounding as slowly he could hear Christmas music in the distance. And there she was.


	2. The Shadow

Will was once again in the darkness, the void, although this time Eleven was there with him, holding his hand. He shivered because of the temperature difference, Hopper’s cabin had been a warm, cosy place, the void was the opposite. He felt heat radiate from the girl next to him, as she turned to look at him with wide eyes.

“Hello, Will.” El spoke slowly, she had never been able to interact with anyone in the void, this was a different story.

“Hello, Eleven.” He replied, precautious, it being the second time he had entered the void and this time on purpose, the whole situation was unfamiliar and concerning.

“Don’t worry, you are safe, anything you see here is a shadow of reality, nothing can hurt or touch you.” Eleven reassured, Will realised she spoke more technically and fluently than he had ever heard before; he reminded himself to ask her about it when they were back in the cabin.

In front of them was Joyce, sitting at her till in Melvald’s, she was alone, head resting on an arm propped up on the counter. She began to hum along to ‘White Christmas’ which was playing in the shop.

Will walked up to her, Eleven following behind closely.

“Mom?” Will spoke, he stood where a person might stand if they were going to purchase something from the store. Joyce looked in Will’s direction, but did not meet his eyes, looking off over his shoulder.

“She cannot see or hear you, Will.” Eleven placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him away from the shadow of his mother, before he could see it disappear into wisps. “I have something to show you.”

“I can see your shadows too?” Will queried, grabbing El’s hand.

“I don’t know, I think so, mama showed me her memories by touching my hand, so keep holding on and I’ll try and show you something.” Will nodded and did so.

Out of the darkness he saw Mike, Lucas and Dustin cycling, a bald and much younger Eleven was sat on the back of Mike’s bike, they were yelling and panicking, suddenly a huge white van appeared coming right towards them, Will flinching and held on tighter to Eleven’s arm. He didn’t know why she was showing this to him.

The shadow of Eleven focussed her energy and Will could feel it radiating through the void.

The van flipped over the boys on their bikes, their young faces gasping and looking up and the vehicle flew over them and crashed behind them.

As soon as it had begun, the show of shadows disappeared, and Will was being pulled somewhere else by El.

Though her pull wasn’t what he was focusing on and he felt out of her grasp as she was no longer there.

“El?” Will screamed, “Eleven?”

He heard a growl to his left, he snapped his head around to see what had produced the sound and saw black smoke speeding towards him.

“No, no no, not again, please no!” Will cried, the smoke froze, flickering where it resided.

Will collapsed.

 

Mike had been holding on to the powerful pair ever since they went catatonic, blood had slowly trickled from each of their nostrils, he wiped it away from their lips whenever it got close to their; he couldn’t imagine they would like to wake up with the taste of blood in their mouths.

They occasionally mumbled words, non-coherent to him, but it gave him the impression that they were talking in the void, it reassured him that they were together and okay. Then Eleven had awoken with a gasp and looked at Will with terror.

“Will?” She asked, shaking his shoulder.

“El, what’s going on?” Mike felt panic rising within himself.

“I lost contact with him, he disappeared.” El began to cry, she had promised to keep himself and she had broken her promise.

Mike told her that it wasn’t her fault and assisted her in trying to wake Will up from the void state, he was screaming out for Eleven and then seemingly shouting at something, telling it no repeatedly.

The boy’s body went limp for a moment before he gasped to life, ripping off the black-ribbon blindfold and checking his surroundings.

“Mike, Eleven?” Will sobbed into them, they exchanged worried glances as they held Will as tightly and they could, eye’s filling with tears as the panic was over and he was okay. “I d-don’t want to be bad again, _he_ was there, I was alone, and _he_ was there!”

“The Mind-Flayer? The Mind-Flayer was there?” Mike asked gravely, Will nodded slowly, pulling out of Eleven and Mike’s grasp on him. “But-but El closed the gate, he can’t be here anymore!”

Will looked down into his lap,

“It wasn’t _him_ in that it was his whole body, it was more like a huge black smoke cloud, I could feel it as it approached me, it felt like the now-memories, I think the thing I saw, I think that’s what used to be inside me, I think it was trying to come home.” Will explained as best as he could, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck prick up and his skin turn to goose bumps; instinctively he grabbed the back of his head and rubbed it with his hand, a comforting motion he had adopted through his episodes.

“He can’t touch you there.” Eleven explained again, although he hadn’t, he had been so close, Will wasn’t sure El was right.

They stayed curled up on the couch, comforting Will and making sure he was wrapped in blankets to warm him up a bit, eventually the boy fell asleep, leaving El and Mike to quietly talk.

“Do you think he will be okay?” Mike asked, brushing his hand through the smooth bowl-cut of the sleeping boy.

“If he doesn’t keep things to himself, I’ve seen him do… things to himself…” El didn’t really understand what he’d been doing, but she had felt immense sadness radiating from his shadow in the void; then there had been red, red blood, so much of it.

“What sort of things?” Mike didn’t understand, at first his dirty young mind had gone to masturbation, but that made no sense from Eleven’s sad voice and the way she struggled with words.

“He hurts himself sometimes.” She said bluntly.

Mike felt a little sick, and flicked his eyes to the long sleeves covering Will’s arms, he could bet that if he lifted them up he would see what El meant. It hadn’t struck him as odd because it was December, everyone wore long clothes and layers, perhaps he should’ve been more attentive.

“There’s something else, too.” El felt like the information she held was very private, but she knew how much Mike loved Will, and vice versa, it was best if Mike knew about the bad things to he could help Will before it was too late.

“What, what is it?” Mike’s face was pale with dread.

“I think he tried to die.”  


	3. We Want to Talk

Will woke with a start as something screeched outside, he was quickly calmed by Mike and got his breathing back to normal. The producer of said screech had been Hopper’s truck pulling into the drive way, and the man himself could be heard crunching frozen leaves and twigs under his heavy boots as he made his way up to the front door; Eleven didn’t hesitate to swing to door open, instead of waiting for the not-so-secret knock. She knew it was Hopper, and if it hadn’t been then she could’ve just as quickly threw them out with her mind. Thankfully the latter hadn’t happened as the chief’s gruff voice was grunting apologies for being late before setting eyes on the three teens, cuddled up on his threadbare couch.

“Oh, hello boys…” He greeted them with curiosity in his tone.

“Hey Hop.” Mike spoke for them both.

“Dad, there’s a problem.” Eleven spoke now, Will stayed silent, eyes wide, he didn’t want Hopper to take him to the lab or see him as more of a freak, he had had time to get used to El’s powers, but with Will not even knowing the extent of his own, he could be seen as a threat.

Hopper frowned, eyes landing on Will, it was always Will. “What’s the problems, kid?” He walked closer to the trio, cautiously.

“Will has powers.” El said as if the words didn’t have terrifying implications, like it was the most normal thing in the world; though to Eleven, powers _were_ normal.

“What?” Hopper was alarmed and stopped in his tracks, fingers going to Sara’s hairband as nervous habit.

“He came to the void on his own and then with me again, and he made his mom appear and then I showed him when I flipped a van, but then I couldn’t find him, and he said he found a part of the Mind-Flayer there.” El explained, barely taking breaks for breaths.

“Slow down, kid, Jesus, Jesus Christ,” Hopper came around the sofa and knelt in front of the still silent Will, who looked just as clueless as himself, “Are you okay, Will?”

Will nodded, “Yes.” It wasn’t particularly convincing, but Hopper didn’t push it; life could afford to cut Will some slack, so pressuring the boy to open up wasn’t exactly fair.

“Does your mother know you’re here-” Hopper asked, although his question was answered immediately as the phone rang, startling Will, Hop pretended not to see Mike rub the boy’s back to get him to relax.

The chief picked up the receiver and listened to a worried Joyce, sounding as if she’d been crying, beg Hopper if he knew where her son was, he told her that he was here, and she sighed, cursing under her breath. She told him that she’d be over in ten minutes, he didn’t try and argue.

“Gave your mom quite a scare, kid, remember to let her know when you’re going to leave the school halfway through the day and not tell anyone.” Hopper chuckled, and went back to his couching position in front of the kids.

“Sorry.” Will made a vague attempt at a smile, and Mike, now with the information he’d been given by Eleven, noticed a deep sadness within the boy’s eyes; he worried how long his best friend had been suffering alone.

Hopper went on to say, “I’m going to make dinner, you lot look like you could do with something to eat.”

The three nodded, El and Mike, eagerly, Will, a little less so; he didn’t have much of an appetite after _everything_ he’d been through; likely why he was so painfully skinny.

“Okay, then, triple Eggo extravaganzas for pudding, how about that?” The chief thought the kids could do with a treat, they had been very mature and dealt with something that frightened even adults. El’s eyes lit up and Hop swore he saw a little drool trip from the corner of her mouth. _Strange kid_ , he thought.

The chief went to the kitchen, leaving the three kids in silence on the couch.

“Will, we need to talk to you, away from Hopper.” Mike began, eyeing Eleven, she nodded supportively. Will noticeably tensed at the words. “Don’t worry, Will, we just want you to know a few things, good things, I promise.”

“O-okay.” Will allowed the pair to draw him out of the cocoon of blankets into El’s bedroom. The room was about the same size as his own, however unlike his, El’s was beautifully tidy and covered in sparkling trinkets; it reminded him of Nancy’s room.

“Sit.” El instructed, walking to the bed. Will did so, Mike staying just behind him, just in case something happened; somethings always seemed to happen.

Once sat atop Will’s floral bed sheets, his heart begun to pound in his chest. There were so many things they could say to him.

“Will, El found you in the void one night, she said that she had a bad feeling and wanted to check on you. She found you-“ Mike let out a breath he didn’t know he had been keeping, Will listened with wide, teary eyes, “She found you trying to- trying to kill yourself.”

The tears building up in Will’s eyes trickled over the top of his lash line and he threw his hands to his face and sobbed into them, within seconds, Mike and El were all over him, rubbing circles in him back, cuddling him, whispering support and love; doing anything they could to get him to feel better. His sobs turned to whimpers, turned to heavy breathing and then he removed his hands. Looking into the pitiful faces with his tearful, bloodshot eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Was all Will said, it was all he knew how, apologise for anything, however much his mom told him to stop. “I am so, so sorry.” He didn’t cry anymore, he didn’t think he could. Mike’s eyes spilt tears and Eleven’s had long ago. After trying to take his own life, he was apologising.

“No.” Eleven’s voice was concise, “Don’t you dare apologise, nothing is your fault Will, nothing at all.”

“But-” Will tried to argue, but Mike cut him off.

“There is absolutely no way that you’re going to persuade us that you have something to apologise for. We wanted to talk to you about this because we want to help you, we want to know what’s bothering you and everything, I mean _everything_ that makes you happy.” Mike said as he held Will’s fragile, shaking hands. “How does that sound?”

Will, who had just about composed himself enough to be able to make a rational decision, replied; “Good, that sounds good… thank you.”

“No problem, Will, we love you so much, we don’t want you to- y’know- end up doing something you’ll regret.” Mike smiled at Will, his face blooming with freckles, it warmed Will’s core.

He was so ready to start feeling better, it had been so long.


	4. Dreaming of The Void

Sat around the living room were two Hoppers, two Byers and a single Wheeler. Joyce had a mixture of tears and eye-makeup streaming down her face as she held her boy as close to herself as possible, he was limp in her arms, comfortably swallowing up her warmth; he was still cold.

“Oh baby.” Joyce whispered into Will’s soft hair. He had told her, with the assistance of Mike and El (of course), all about the trips to the void, and the cloud of darkness that had found him there. Telling his mother was different to telling Hopper, he was much more nervous, feeling like he was just burdening his poor mother even more. As if she didn’t worry about hi enough, now there was a part of the shadow monster hunting him down, _and_ he had the ability to watch her from afar without her even knowing. That part was somewhat comforting, although she did worry that one day he’d tune into to something that he wouldn’t like to see, or someone would find out he had powers and have him taken away from her.

On the little coffee table lay four empty plates, and one mostly untouched. Mike stared at the plate with a mixture of worry and understanding; he wouldn’t pursue Will about it unless he saw him skip another meal. To say Mike’s eyes much more open would be an understatement. 

Will began to feel sleepy, his eyelids felt so painfully heavy and his mother’s soft shoulder was inviting to fall onto; he tried to resist the urge until he had no energy and therefore, no choice. Dark slumber embraced his body, he had not long enough to try and take his mind off horrors, a nightmare would happen if he could sleep for long enough.

Mike noticed Will go limp next to him on the couch, Joyce was talking to Hopper and didn’t seem to have realised yet. He didn’t want Will to fall asleep in such a position that he might wake up with a sore back or neck, so he took the sleeping boy from Joyce’s side and pulled his limp body into his own side, Eleven saw what he was doing and offered a blanket in a hushed tone. Mike nodded, and she hurried off to her room, returning with a quilt consisting of many patches of floral fabrics; very El.

Watching Will sleep wasn’t something creepy or unusual, to Mike, it was a way of caring for him. This slightest flinch of an eyelid or a quickening in breathing, you could awaken the boy before he awoke himself, screaming. Will sleeping was a beautiful sight, his youthful face was so calm, occasionally he’d fall asleep with a smile (which beat falling asleep crying any day), the corners of his mouth so slightly upturned; it shot flutters of love through Mike’s diaphragm and deep into his belly.

Once Joyce had caught on to the sight of her boy sleeping, she couldn’t help but feel her heart swoon; perhaps the only thing anyone needed to feel joyous was to see the peaceful face of William Byers, getting the rest, he so desperately needed. Her eyes met with Mike’s and she understood how deeply he cared for Will, she was glad- she wasn’t alone in the battle to help her son.

“I ought to get this one home.” Joyce said quietly to Hopper, he nodded and stood up to carry Will out of the cabin. The boy stirred for a moment and blinked his eyes open to see Mike and El waving goodbye from the front door, he smiled and closed his eyes again.

 

The next time Will woke up, he was in bed at home. His alarm read three thirty am, although he didn’t feel like he’d manage to get back to sleep. He decided to try and check up on El using his new-found ability.

An old stocking of his mother’s sufficed as a blindfold and the static on his supercom always worked for El, so he sat in the middle of his bed, legs crossed, and concentrated on breathing as slowly as he could until the black of his blindfold became the black of the void.

El was asleep. So, so peaceful with her curled locks spreading across her pillow and her scruffy brown teddy-bear clutched in her arms. Will did not want to wake her, so he sat on the edge of her bed and tried to mirror her look of comfort. The hems of his pyjama bottoms were wet from his small trek across the watery plain, he realised this as he tucked his feet under his thighs into a crouching position. He winced as the freezing water soaked through the thin layer of fabric and into his leg- he lost concentration and El’s shadow, bed and all, disappeared.

“El?” Will whispered, his voice echoed through the emptiness. As if returning a response to his question, a far-off wind, whistled. He jolted and noticed that he was sitting in the water rather than where he had been on the bed; he hadn’t fallen, or at least hadn’t remembered.

Will quickly curled himself up into a ball, he felt vulnerable, susceptible to an attacker from any direction. Perhaps that’s why he wasn’t surprised when the black cloud approached him, cautious, as if it feared him.

It seemed to speak, wordlessly.

_Home, I’m home._

Will, still on the floor, pushed himself away from the smoke.

“No, you don’t want to be back inside me.” Will said, although it wasn’t him speaking, it was _him._

_Yes, I want to be back, home, HOME!_

The smoke proceeded forward, Will scurried backwards, scrambling to his feet and running; the situation was too familiar to the day he’d first become possessed- he hated it.

“You fool! Get away from me!” The voice inside Will spoke again, it struck him that this might be the same thing that caused Eleven to speak fluently when she was in the void. “Inside me you’ll die, if you get inside I’ll kill us both.”

Both the smoke and Will froze in their place, both tried to move but found themselves completely stuck.

“Will.” Eleven’s voice arrived in a bright beam of hope.

“El.” He was released from the stillness and turned to face the girl.

“You’re okay, but something’s wrong.” El spoke like it was common knowledge, she advanced towards the struggling black cloud and raised a hand. Blood trickled onto her lip as the smoke flailed frantically, Will felt a stab in his chest- a screamed pulled itself out of his throat.

Eleven lowered her hand, “You’re connected.”

Will could hear his head pound against his skull, this was the worst thing that could’ve happened. El seemed to have approached him, although he hadn’t noticed in his state of shock.

“I can help, remember, I promised I would.” Eleven spoke softly, mindlessly making the shadow of herself appear before them so they could sit down together on her bed.

“You promised you’d help me with other stuff, but this is different, you’re not breaking a promised if you can’t.” Will sighed, eyes still locked on the black mass before him.

“At least let me try.”

“Okay, you can try.”


	5. From under the bed

Will felt something that he could only relate to the sensation of freezing. He knew he was screaming, even though he wasn’t consciously doing so or even hearing the noise; but from the way El stared at him with sorry eyes as she held two hands out and used her energy, he knew he wasn’t exactly silent.

He wasn’t the only thing making noise in the void, the black smoke was screeching out so loudly that Will was not able to hear anything else.

His chest ached, like something was breaking- but not painfully so.

It was the way he felt whenever Mike showed attention to Eleven, exclusively; it made him feel awful and selfish, although this time he was glad for the ache.

Time passed slowly, he felt less and less attached, and more and more filled with Eleven’s powerful energy.

He felt like if someone touched him, they’d get a rather painful electric shock.

Suddenly he heard nothing but a loud snap and woke in his bedroom.

 

“Dad, I need to go to Will’s, right now.” El woke Hopper up by poking his arms repeatedly. He shot up like a bolt.

“Why? What’s wrong? What’s happened?” A flood of questions spilled from his mouth.

“Lost connection, bad.” Eleven tried to keep herself composed, worrying never did her any good.

“Jesus, kid, what did I saw about using powers in the middle of the night!” Hopper sighed and pushed himself out of bed.

“Dad, we need to go now. He could be hurt.” El enforced her word with a scowl.

Hopper quickened his pace considerably.

El pulled on her muddy, white converse, as Hopper pulled on his carefully, polished boots.

Moments later they were in Hopper’s truck.

“Ready kid?”

“Ready.”

 

Will held himself into the smallest ball he could possibly create, he was hidden underneath his bed and wouldn’t come out until he knew what was going on. He’d lost connection with Eleven, and felt a deep pain within himself- he didn’t know quite what. Being the middle of the night, Will opted not to wake up his family, he hoped that eventually he’d fall asleep in the fetal position under his bed; though the constant stream of terrifying thoughts, would not leave him to rest.

He cried quietly, not even aware that he was doing so until he tasted salty water drip into his mouth.

After he was sure at least an hour had passed, he felt safe, or at least, his terrifying thoughts had changed to something else. Will thought a lot about death, much more than a healthy, sane person would; though, Will was neither healthy or sane, so that wasn’t much of an excuse. He thought about how _nice_ it would be, not to be plagued with terror at every moment, how he could finally be at peace. It was dangerous for him to enter such a mind-field, he started to think about how meaningless he was to the world, how much of a burden would be lifted off everybody’s shoulders if he would just die already.

He had been thinking the exact same things when he’d sliced deep into his skin, he’d felt like such a coward when he hadn’t died. He sighed.

Will reached his hands into his sleeves and instinctively scratched at his most recent self-destructive work of art, he did so until he felt wetness on his fingertips; then he had noticed what he was doing and shoved his arms between his legs to try and stop himself.

 _Only five more hours until it’s day_ , he tried to think optimistically as he peered from under his bed and looked out of the window, he saw nothing but blackness and instantly recoiled back.

Then something happened that he hadn’t expected or planned for. Someone knocked at the front door.

It couldn’t have been his mom or Jonathan, they were both sound asleep in their respective bedrooms; though from the way the floorboards down the hall had creaked upon the second knock, he guessed that one of them was awake. _Probably Jonathan,_ Will thought, it was usually Jonathan who woke up first when Will had a loud nightmare, he was a light-sleeper.

That still didn’t answer the question that bothered Will, who was this curious character turning up at his house _so_ late in the night. _Surely not Lonnie…._

Will felt his stomach drop for a moment, although both his concerns and questions were answered with a tapping at his door and a small voice that belonged to no other but Eleven; the girl that saved him, often.

“Will? Please can I come in?” She asked, sounding a little fearful if Will inferred correctly. He initially didn’t make a noise, he didn’t trust anything, what sounded like Eleven could’ve been a possessed version of the girl- wielding an axe to come and chop him into little pieces; anything was possible in Hawkins.

After at least a minute of silence from either side, a new person appeared at the door. It was the chief, Will could tell as he offered a much more aggressive knock on the door.

“Will, open up or we’re coming in without your permission.” The man spoke in a harsh tone, although Will knew he meant no harm, it was just the way he acted when he was anxious or around danger.

Will once again made no means to move, he felt safe under his bed, he didn’t know what was out there.

His heart started to pound as he heard the lock in his door knob, release from where it sunk into the wall and shrink back into it’s mechanism. He wanted to tell them to leave, or at least wait until morning, the time he felt the safest; however, the only noise he could manage was a quiet squeak of shock as Hopper’s boots appeared in the room.

He heard them try to find him, and for a moment he thought they’d given up, until Eleven said ‘here’ and he watched as two pairs of shoes and one pair of socks came towards the bed. It shifted a little, his guess was that El had tried to reveal him by shifting the bed, but decided against it at the last moment. Beds were heavy, after all.

The girl lowered herself the ground and found herself face to face with Will, barely recognisable in his current state.

“Will.” Eleven breathed out, thankful to have found him alive.

Will didn’t speak, just stared at her with huge eyes, spilling tears down his face.

“Please come out, I need to make sure you’re okay.” El explained in a coaxing manner, Will sniffled a little and finally nodded, his first means of communication since they had arrived; Eleven found it worrying that he wasn’t talking, but put it down to fear. She understood.

She crawled out from under the bed, allowing him space to do the same- after a minute or so, he was back curled up in a ball; although, this time it was on top of the bed, rather than bellow it.

Eyeing him carefully was Hopper, Jonathan and a delirious Joyce who had finally awoken, they stood cautiously in the doorway, no one quite sure what had happened; except for Eleven, who sat beside Will on the bed, a supportive arm around him as he came to his wits.

The first thing that Will said was that he was cold, Joyce almost fainted because she had heard ‘he likes it cold’, although she was quickly corrected as Will welcomed a blanket wrapped around his too-bony shoulders.

“Do you feel the smoke?” Eleven asked, the question had been eating at her brain ever since they had lost connection.

“Different. I know it’s there now, but it doesn’t feel close, like a distant memory. Kind of like a now-memory, but I know where it’s coming from… does that make sense?” Will asked, hoping that somewhere in his madman’s ramblings, there was some sort of distinguishable information.

“I think so, I think the feeling will pass in time.” El supported him, arm still wrapped around his tiny form, she had never noticed how little he really was. _Needs more Eggos_ , she thought to herself.

“Are you feeling better now?” El asked when Will made no conversation or agreement to her prediction.

“A bit, thank you, sorry I woke everyone up, it’s late.” Will looked down into his lap, cheeks flushed with embarrassment and guilt.

“No problem at all, kid.” It was Hopper who spoke now, seemingly the adults (and Jonathan, to Will it felt weird to refer to Jonathan as an adult now) had deemed Will to not be possessed or something of that realm, and had entered the room. Hopper was crouched on the floor, although he was about eye level with the pair on the bed because he was so tall. Joyce kneeled closer to the bed and took one of Will’s clammy hands into her own, she smiled rather sleepily at her son, in an almost apologetic way, perhaps for not realising he was hurting. Jonathan hovered behind the parents, eyes fixed lovingly on Will and the way Eleven treated him. Jon liked her, he thought she would make a good replacement sibling when he eventually went off to college.

“We want to make sure you’re completely okay before we go back home, is there anything we can do to help?” Hop asked, and Will knew the only thing he wanted, but Mike shouldn’t have to lose his sleep just like the people in his house, so he pushed that idea to the back of his head.

“Please could I have some water?” He asked, a meagre request, though it was the only physical thing he needed in that moment. Screaming in the void and constantly crying seemed to have dried out his throat a little.

“Of course.” Hopper and Joyce hurried off to the kitchen to carry out his request.

“Jonathan?” Will called his brother out of a daze.

“Yeah bud?” Jonathan rushed over to his side, worried, Will sighed but didn’t roll his eyes, he couldn’t blame them for being worried after what he’d just done.

“You can go back to bed, you have school tomorrow, sorry for keeping you up.” Will said, trying not to sound too bossy, he needed to talk to Eleven alone.

“Oh, if you’re sure, thank you, and don’t apologise, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Jonathan kissed Will’s head and went back to his room. He guessed that his mom and Hopper were going to be talking in the kitchen for a while, so he turned to face El.

When he caught where she was staring, his stomach dropped for what felt like the millionth time that night.

“Will.” Eleven said as she stared at his sleeves, she saw red dots all over the fabric and a few patches of more than dots. “Will, can I lift up your sleeves, please?”

Will gulped and nodded as El slowly and carefully revealed where he’d scratched, he made much more damage than he initially realised he had.

Areas of his skin were ripped open, as if he’d been clawed by a cat, new wounds lay among the old; the worst part was, he hadn’t even intended to create such damage.

“I was scared, it was the only thing I knew that made me feel human, that made me feel real.” Will rambled, El said nothing, just stared at the injuries that littered his arms. She hadn’t known he hurt himself so much, and it made her feel queasy.

“Will, I want to tell Hopper and your mom.” Eleven worked on the words carefully, she knew such a task would be daunting for them both, but he was in danger from himself and she vowed to protect him; no matter what.

Will opened his mouth to protest a few times, until he stopped and silently nodded his head. She pulled his sleeves back down and took his hand, letting him squeeze hers as tightly as need be. El lead him out of his room, supporting him and letting him lean most of his little-weight on her, he was exhausted and continually stumbled as they made their way down the corridor into the kitchen.

Will was glad that El said that she was going to tell them, he couldn’t even bare the thought of considering doing it himself; it was humiliating, other thing to add to the list of reasons Will Byers’ was a complete basket-case.

“Ms Byers and dad, I need to tell you something because Will needs our help.” El started, not really knowing how to say what she was about to. Will’s was already fixated on the floor and bright red with embarrassment.

“What’s wrong?” Joyce was immediately at the pair’s side, Hopper not far behind, abandoning Will’s glass of water next to the tap.

“I think we should sit down because Will is tired.” Eleven said, not waiting for a reply as she led the boy the table and pulled out a chair for him to sit on. She noticed a few stray pieces of shiny-silver tape on the chair and thought it was rather odd until she remembered taking apart the shed in the Byers’ back garden after she’d come back from the lab; they’d used the chairs to seat Will and his mom on and disguised them, so Will didn’t recognise them. Their plan was very good, now she thought about it.

“Eleven, please tell me what’s going on!” Joyce demanded, snapping her out of her daydream, she quickly took a seat and began to explain.

“Will hurts himself sometimes. It makes him feel real, I think, but he did it without realising how badly he did it, and one time he did it so badly, but on purpose.” With this Will wiped his eyes and placed his arms, with the sleeves rolled up, on the table. Joyce gasped, and Hopper’s frown lines deepened. “I think the big ones are still bleeding and I don’t know how to deal with them, so that Will doesn’t get more hurt.”

Joyce was sobbing into her hands, but Hopper stood and came around the table, so he was sat next to Will, he looked straight at Eleven and said, “Thank you, kid, and thank you Will for letting her tell us this. Let’s get you cleaned up okay?”

“Okay.” Will said in a croaky voice, he finally raised his head to face the chief, though he didn’t look him in the eyes, frightened that he would be met with a look of disgust.

“El, please can you stay here with Joyce, I need to have a private chat with Will.” Hopper asked as he led Will to the bathroom, in a hushed tone he added, “and I think she could use a hug, do you think you could do that?”

El nodded and smiled, scooting around the oval-shaped dining table until she was next to Joyce, she embraced the woman’s shaking form, holding her just like she had held Will so many times.

“Thank you, sweetie, thank you for looking out for my boy.” Joyce whispered, so low it was barely heard, but it made Eleven’s heart swell a little, she really liked Joyce.


	6. The End

“Will you need to talk to me, please.” Hopper sat down on the toilet, the lid was down, Will was perched on the edge on the bathtub; looking rather fragile if Hop could put any word to it. “I need to know how you’re feeling.”

It took a few moments until Will made any attempt to reply, he didn’t want to talk, he didn’t know how. The fact was, he hadn’t even known he badly he had hurt himself, not until Hopper had finally shown emotion about his injuries.

Hopper had started crying as he bandaged up Will’s arms, it wasn’t sobbing by any means, but when Will had considered Hop’s eyes, he had been greeted by wetness trickling down the chief’s face. It had shocked him, he felt cared about; he really didn’t believe anyone could still give a damn about him, he felt like too much of a burden. Though he had clearly been proved wrong, watching Hopper wipe away tears with the back of his scar-ridden hand.

“I’m fine.” Will mumbled, he couldn’t exactly say he was being truthful, but he just too tired and wanted everyone to stop worrying about him, just to let him go to bed.

“Look, I know you’re not, but I won’t push you anymore.” Hopper said, his face showed sympathy and understanding for Will’s cause. After Sara he had been a wreck, not quite on Will’s level, but he had certainly seen the appeal of ending his life; trauma could make people do terrible things.

“Thank you.” Will replied in a little voice, he liked Hopper; though he couldn’t understand why the man really cared about him.

After making sure Will’s fore-arms were properly bandaged and that the bandaged wouldn’t come unravelled when the boy was sleeping, Hopper lead Will to his bedroom and watched him climb into bed and fall asleep. Once Hop was certain that Will was safe, he walked to the dining room where he expected to find his daughter and Joyce; however, there was no sign of them anywhere.

His heart started to pound, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible might’ve happened to them. The near-panic attack he was soon going to face was stopped when he caught sight of the pair curled up asleep on the couch. Had Hop not have just been scared by their disappearance, he was sure he would have audibly ‘awed’ at them.

He joined them on the couch, of course he’d have to take El home as soon as he could, but he thought they all deserved some sleep. That they did.

 

Will woke up peacefully, he could barely recall the events of the previous night, or at least not until he felt a dull ache in his forearms and everything rushed back to him; although, he wasn’t too overwhelmed by the memories, he felt loved and safe.

He climbed out of bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and made his way down the wooden-panelled hallway. His mom was asleep on the couch, as were Hopper and Eleven. Will curled into Joyce’s side and gently woke her with whispering into her hair.

Her eyes fluttered open and locked onto the sight of her little boy next to her, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close into her side.

“Good morning, sweetie.” She said in a low voice, her heart aching with the love she felt for him.

“Morning, mom.” Will’s voice was a little raspy, as it usually was when he first woke up in the morning.

“How are you feeling, baby?” Joyce asked, also remembering what had gone down during the night. She felt guilty for not knowing how much he was hurting, she should’ve been there for him; Eleven, the sweetheart, had persuaded her that it wasn’t her fault, Will was good at hiding things.

“Better… I’m sorry.” Will said in a tone that snapped heart strings, sometimes Joyce wanted to yell at him when he was so apologetic; he had to understand that it wasn’t his fault that he felt the way that he did, or that he had gone through what he had. Joyce knew that he blamed himself for Bob’s death, among many other things.

“No, baby, please don’t feel bad, you’re not to blame for any of this, I promise.” She kissed his head, “We’re going to work through this together, I know things won’t fix themselves straight away, but I will be here for you, no matter what.”

Will didn’t verbally reply; however, the glint of hope in his eye was enough of an answer for Joyce. She pulled him tight into her chest.

 

Hopper woke up to see Will and Joyce snuggled together on the couch, he felt a familial swoon in his black hole of a soul. They were awake, but had not yet noticed him, they were so deep in each other’s hearts that nothing else in the world mattered. He coughed a little under his breath to try and let them know he was awake, he didn’t want to startle them or pretend that he was still sleeping.

“Oh, good morning Jim!” Joyce called across the room, she sounded happy, she looked it too. Hopper turned his attention to Will, he looked better than the previous night, although he was quite pale and slightly too gaunt in the cheeks. Though, Hop couldn’t deny, the boy looked very content in his mother’s arms, like he was a little kid; such a sight really brought out his instinctive protectiveness, so he paced over to the pair and crouched beside them on the floor.

“Hi.” Will greeted him, though his voice was muffled as his head was buried in his mother’s embrace.

“Hi, champ.” Hopper returned.

Hopper wondered if Will would ever have a somewhat normal day, or even a moment; it seemed truly unlikely. Though, Hop was certain, above all else, he’d could get through it. Will Byers had more courage and bravery than most, if not all, of the world’s population; he just didn’t seem to realise that.

 

A week later, and Will was feeling ready to go back to school. Joyce had given him some time to cope with his new-learned powers, rightfully so, he had been exhausted. In order for Will to recuperate, he spent a great majority of time sleeping in his bed; therefore, he hadn’t seen Mike for a long while, his best friend wasn’t in the loop of knowledge about what had occurred.

 So, on his first day back at school, Mike caught sight of the Byers boy climbing out of his mother’s car, after a week absence, he ran to him immediately.

“Will!” Mike called out, grabbing Will’s attention, he was greeted by dark circles under the boy’s eyes, rather a sorry sight; if only Mike realised what these were foreshadowing.

“Oh- Hey.” Will replied, rubbing his eyes as if he had only just woken up.

“What’s wrong?” Mike questioned, his eyebrows raised as his suspicions did the same.

“A lot went down last week.” Will gulped.

Mike’s eyes widened, he couldn’t believe how much happened in the Byers’ house, “What happened?”

“Well, let’s just say… my mom is a hell of a lot more protective now…” Will sighed, Joyce could certainly be rather overbearing sometimes.

“Shit, must have been bad bad, I didn’t know that was possible!” Mike joked, nervous under his mask of humour.

“Yeah, neither did I.” Will looked down to the ground, Mike felt bad for him, could he never catch a break?

“Come on then, let’s get you inside, we can talk about this later.” Mike wrapped an arm around Will’s slender frame and guided him towards the school building.

 _Please let him be okay_ , Mike internally pleaded, studying Will pull down his sleeves over his hands.

Maybe Will would be okay, with such an amazing bunch of people in his life, it sure was going to be hard not to be.


End file.
